Not sure how many of you saw this yet:http://www.informationweek.com/news/...Sfeed_IWK_News
but looks like apples crying again. They want an unspecified amount of money and to bar htc from selling in the US. Google has backed up HTC turning this just as much into a google vs. apple situation.

Either this will strike a crippling blow to android...or more likely it will kill google's support for the iphone. Not saying google search and its advertising are leaving anytime soon but don't be surprised if the voice recognition does and google navigation never makes its appearance. just my $0.02

03-04-2010, 10:36 AM

chunkyks

Or, more likely, an arrangement will be reached, HTC will provide Apple an unspecified sum of money, Apple will give HTC a token unspecified number of shares and the right to use their patents.

A mutual covenant-not-to-sue will be written, and five years from now HTC will put out a table that apple will sue them for.

Gary (-;

03-04-2010, 01:10 PM

Bugbyte

Well, I guess we're finding out what kind of company Google is turning into, aren't we? We already know that Apple is a patent-crazy, suit-happy, paranoid company. I guess I thought Google was...ahem, different.

Where's Google Nav for iPhone or Windows Mobile? Why would they take Google Voice search recognition away from the iPhone just because Apple is a big meanie?

It thought it was about making the planet better. Actually, I didn't. I was just waiting until they got big enough to start acting like a huge conglomerate.

03-04-2010, 03:59 PM

malcom2073

Haha awesome.
"Apple has suffered irreparable injury for which there is no adequate remedy at law and will continue to suffer such irreparable injury unless ...."

Sounds like even Apple thinks this so called "iphone killer" might have some merit to it's name, unlike the last 5 Droid phones which have been called by the same name with similar features, yet apple did nothing about.

Bugbyte, please don't take this offensively, but I have to call you out a bit on this. I find it interesting how google being huge and having corporate sort of power is all good and well and people think they should use it to get things done (save the world, be green, etc) until suddenly they use that power in a way the person disagree with. Then suddenly it's all "I guess since they're a corporation they don't care about the little guy". You're bashing on Google for going toe to toe against Apple for the betterment of the open source Android community? Sure, they stand to gain financially, as you said they're a corporation: their bottom line is first, and FOSS is second. But ask yourself what's wrong with the two values aligning? It sounds like your Apple side, and FOSS side are at odds with each other. Google is giving poor HTC some firepower, and I'm all for it.

03-04-2010, 04:15 PM

justchat_1

Yea I can't see why google defending their product would be a sign their ignoring the little guy.....apple patented everything possible (including a "slide left-right gesture")...and is now suing for features and technology they didn't even create. What's next are they going to patent the high-five?! I really hope this bites them in the *** and exposes them as the paranoid consumer screwing control freaks that they are.

@malcom2073:
I don't think this targets any one phone....just that HTC seems to be the hardware designer of choice for android. A lot of people have been speculating that apple waited for android to take off before filing the suit to try to get as much money as possible.

03-04-2010, 04:33 PM

Bugbyte

Quote:

Originally Posted by malcom2073

Bugbyte, please don't take this offensively, but I have to call you out a bit on this.

Ha, ha! I'm not offended at all. You can tell I was sort of troll-posting there, can't you? It was sort of fun to try and turn it around and aim it at Google.

I agree, Apple's really gone off the deep end here and the whole thing is pretty stupid. My guess is they countersued as a way to bring HTC to the table and get the whole thing settled. It's the schoolyard bully strategy and Apple uses it frequently. Pretty ugly.

OTHO, who is the MORON at the patent office who is handing these things out? They can't possibly be so far out of tune that they don't know how these things get used. It's like the Amazon 1-click patent. One click to buy. durrrrrhhhhh. That's not patentable, that's convenient.

There is just a hint of truth to what I said, though. If Google really makes its money from advertising, then they ought to put their nav app on as many platforms as possible. That's what they did with Google Earth, after all. There's really only one justification I can think of for not doing it, and that is that the market is too small on the iPhone. Obviously, that's not the case, so what they are doing is classic Microsoft Windows only strategy to make their operating system more attractive and increase lock-in for users by making it difficult to switch.

Given the nearly OS agnostic approach Google has taken in the past by leveraging the web (gmail, buzz, wave, picassa and so on), I think this signals something different for Google as far as strategy. I guess I'm not required to like it - Sergei didn't run it by me before they rolled it out. Still, I'm a little disappointed. I want Google to succeed by being different, not the same.

03-04-2010, 05:57 PM

soundman98

i wasn't aware that apple had done it in the past, but apple has always seemed to leave a odd, sour taste for me, even with their newest, fanciest devices...

if apple succeeds in this, i just might have to buy a HTC device, to further the "irreparable injury to apple"...

03-04-2010, 07:59 PM

Bugbyte

Quote:

Originally Posted by soundman98

apple has always seemed to leave a odd, sour taste for me

Perhaps you just don't like Macintosh's.:boink:

03-04-2010, 08:20 PM

soundman98

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bugbyte

Perhaps you just don't like Macintosh's.:boink:

:lol: :) it is slowly starting to come to that...though, i view it more as being pushed away...

my families first ever computer was a mac, and mac seemed good through those early days, but after the ipod hurdled them into fame, they just seemed to start getting a 'better-then-you' attitude...

kind of like how a highend mercedes owner looks down on a ford focus owner...

03-04-2010, 09:03 PM

justchat_1

Quote:

Originally Posted by soundman98

kind of like how a highend mercedes owner looks down on a ford focus owner...

and yet they can never seem to keep up with me :)

I should point out the whole google navigation not coming to apple thing was speculation not a fact yet (google promised it a few months ago). Given inside info i got from a google employee and what I saw with this bs suit though, im fairly confident. First adobe and now google, apple is turning into the north korea of the tech industry.